Book 1: Settling into Life Day 17 (June 23, 2015)

Today I do some more lab work (experimental procedures I've done before many many many times) but I'm a little worried because my mentor is still out of town for a conference, and Lesley asked me to run a gel for her samples, and I really wanted the results to be positive and for my gel to not be smeared. And it was so much better! The cloning worked, all the gels ran cleanly, and I got the results I wanted. I learned how to read a ladder today (and Lesley printed out a reference chart for me!) and tomorrow I'll get to do some more transfection (I did it once...in the beginning of my internship...and I have a terrible memory, and my notetaking was subpar at that point...so it'll be so good for Lesley to do transfection with me so I can "learn the ropes" as she says).

Even though my mentor will be out until Thursday, everyone is so nice and open, I know I can always ask someone for help.

I dug back into that review paper, and I am about half-way through. And still so confused. It's dense material. And I found out for my journal club on Monday, I have another 19 page review paper to read...except for this time, it's on RNAs. I really regret not paying as much attention as I should have in AP Bio, especially during the RNA unit. But RNAs are fascinating, with all the siRNA and ncRNAs. I'm excited for journal club, but it will be additional work. Richard also stopped by to let me know that our lab was having a journal club (no, it's another event) tomorrow, and so...I'm not quite sure what it is, but I'm excited.

On my way home, I was stuck in the metro station because I didn't have enough money to pay the exit fare and I didn't have any money on me...so I had to call Cameron, and he came and bailed me out with his metrocard (that had money on it). When it rains in DC, it really rains. Today was no different, with flash flood warnings until 11pm, little rivers forming in the streets, water 2-inches deep covering the streets, turning it into a sleek black river. The water flowed down as a steady slippery sheet of water down the railings of the escalator leading to the train station and deep puddles, a few inches deep, formed on the sidewalks. My shoes and socks were absolutely drenched from wading through countless unavoidable puddles and rivers, and even the umbrella I had didn't do much with the torrential downpour of rain.

Exciting things are happening this week. Stay tuned!

Ooooh, look at how official they look!

My workspace with the new reference charts!